{"id":43488,"date":"2023-09-23T20:49:30","date_gmt":"2023-09-24T01:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=43488"},"modified":"2023-09-23T20:49:30","modified_gmt":"2023-09-24T01:49:30","slug":"nemechek-wins-andys-frozen-custard-300-nascar-xfinity-series-first-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2023\/09\/23\/nemechek-wins-andys-frozen-custard-300-nascar-xfinity-series-first-round\/","title":{"rendered":"Nemechek wins Andy\u2019s Frozen Custard 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series first-round"},"content":{"rendered":"
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John Hunter Nemechek, driver of the #20 Romco Equipment Toyota, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 at Texas Motor Speedway on September 23, 2023 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Courtesy of TMS Media Relations<\/em><\/p>\n

FORT WORTH, Texas \u2013 Regular-season champion John Hunter Nemechek moved a step closer to the more coveted title by storming back to win Saturday\u2019s Andy\u2019s Frozen Custard 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series Round of 12 playoff race at Texas Motor Speedway.<\/p>\n

The victory provided the Joe Gibbs Racing driver with an automatic berth in the Round of 8, joining JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier who won the opener last week at Bristol Motor Speedway, and no pressure heading into the first-round playoff finale at Charlotte Motor Speedway\u2019s ROVAL on Saturday, Oct. 7.<\/p>\n

Allgaier was dominant in this race as well, leading 134 of the 200 laps, but Nemechek was able to get past him and then playoff driver Parker Kligerman of Big Machine Racing with seven laps remaining to secure his series-high seventh win of the season. It also was his second Xfinity Series win at Texas Motor Speedway with his other coming in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal coming into today was to lock ourselves into the next round,\u201d Nemechek said. \u201cOur road courses haven\u2019t been very great with me this year. Joe Gibbs Racing as an organization has been really good on road courses, but going into the ROVAL and not having to worry about that is definitely a relief. We are still going to go there and try to play strategy, try to win the race and get some more Playoff points, but focus on Vegas, Miami and Martinsville and then on to Phoenix.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 12th and final caution of the day set up a restart with 10 laps remaining and Allgaier leading. He maintained the advantage until he was challenged by Kligerman on the backstretch with eight to go.<\/p>\n

As Allgaier and Kligerman battled for the lead, they appeared to make light contact that led to both cars getting loose. Nemechek, who restarted third, pounced on the opportunity by immediately getting by Allgaier and then past Kligerman on the frontstretch with seven laps remaining. Nemechek, who led twice for 38 laps, cruised from there en route to a 1.005-second victory over Kligerman.<\/p>\n

\u201cI messed up that final restart. It bounced out of third gear,\u201d Nemechek said. \u201cThat one was on me. I knew that I had to push hard and try to recover right there, but hats off to the 20 team, Joe Gibbs Racing. It is absolutely amazing what we\u2019ve been able to accomplish so far this year and I don\u2019t think we are done yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allgaier was not pleased with Kligerman\u2019s move and it cost both of them a chance at the victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe put ourselves in good position,\u201d Allgaier said. \u201cThat last caution kind of hurt us because we didn\u2019t have tires, but still thought we\u2019d do a good job.<\/p>\n

\u201cParker, when I went and I talked to him, said I squeezed him. I felt like I left him plenty of room there knowing he\u2019d go to the bottom, and he drove it in super, super deep into [turn] three. And he\u2019s been around the sport long enough to know what\u2019s going to happen. Just disappointed. Not only did it mess up battling for second it put us way up in the marbles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Countered Kligerman: \u201cHad a great run, got to him [Allgaier] and I don\u2019t know how much we got squeezed or didn\u2019t. I thought I could clear him super easily, but I got super loose. Feels like I got choked, he says he gave a lot of room. I\u2019ll have to look at it.\u2019<\/p>\n

Allgaier and Kligerman led a parade of playoff drivers as the group secured the top eight finishing positions. Rookies Sammy Smith of Joe Gibbs Racing and Chandler Smith of Kaulig Racing took third and fourth, respectively, while Allgaier recovered to round out the top five.<\/p>\n

 Stewart-Haas Racing\u2019s Cole Custer finished sixth and was followed by Richard Childress Racing teammates Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed to complete the playoff sweep of the top-eight finishing positions.<\/p>\n

Allgaier started on the pole and from the outset it appeared that he could go wire to wire and get his second playoff win in two weeks. He won the first two stages in dominant fashion, leading 79 of the 90 laps.<\/p>\n

In the third and final stage, Allgaier was pushed out of the racing line from behind by Chandler Smith with 86 to go. Allgaier saved the car but dropped to mid-pack while Nemechek and Custer were in position for the win. However, Allgaier took advantage of a timely caution with 45 laps remaining that moved him back up front while Nemechek and Custer got caught in the pits and restarted at the back. But it would be the two final cautions that cost Allgaier, who was out of fresh tires and the restarts allowed the field to tighten up on him and eventually overtake him.<\/p>\n

The Andy\u2019s Frozen Custard 300 also was costly to some of the playoff contenders with finishes of 24th or worse and more than likely in a need of win at Charlotte to advance. That race will determine which six drivers will join Nemechek and Allgaier in the next round.<\/p>\n

Kaulig Racing\u2019s Daniel Hemric currently sits eighth after a 24th-place finish, 17 points behind sixth-place Sammy Smith. Jordan Anderson Racing\u2019s Jeb Burton, who finished 31st due to a suspension issue, is 10th and trails Smith by 36. JR Motorsports driver Josh Berry finished 27th and sits 11th and 27 back. Sam Mayer, Berry teammate, took the biggest hit as a result of an accident on the opening lap. He finished last in the 38-car field and finds himself 51 points behind Smith.<\/p>\n

The NASCAR Cup Series Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 24 (2:30 p.m. CT on USA Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Ch. 90, PRN, and 95.9 The Ranch-local). Country Music stars LOCASH will perform Sunday\u2019s pre-race concert at 12:30 p.m. CT on the Machinery Auctioneers Pre-Race Stage located at the start\/finish line.<\/p>\n

 Texas Motor Speedway\u2019s always-busy events schedule is well under way. Upcoming events in 2023 include: Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 NASCAR Playoffs weekend (Sept. 23-24), Goodguys\u2019 Summit Racing Lone Start Nationals (Sept. 29-Oct. 1), Speedway Children\u2019s Charities Smoke Show (Oct. 11) and Gordy\u2019s Hwy 30 Music Fest (Oct. 19-22). The year wraps up with the family-favorite and speedway tradition Gift of Lights holiday light show.<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/NemechekNXS92323.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Courtesy of TMS Media Relations FORT WORTH, Texas \u2013 Regular-season champion John Hunter Nemechek moved a step closer to the more coveted title by storming back to win Saturday\u2019s Andy\u2019s Frozen Custard 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series Round of 12 playoff race at Texas Motor Speedway. The victory provided the Joe Gibbs Racing driver with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":43479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13],"tags":[447,16,21],"class_list":["post-43488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-texas-motor-speedway","tag-john-hunter-nemechek","tag-nascar","tag-texas-motor-speedway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/GettyImages-1697737127-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-bjq","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43488"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43489,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43488\/revisions\/43489"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}